Turner Model 1 1995

Rick Turner was such an innovator and creator of so many things that became foundational classics in our world of guitars that it's hard to know where to begin. Like many of us who came of musical age in the 1960s, the folk boom was an enticing lure and Rick was right there as part of the Boston scene along with Lowell "Banana” Levinger and the Youngbloods (remember Jesse Colin Young?), Ian & Sylvia, and on and on. The later 1960s took Rick to New York, when I first met him as part of a band called Autosalvage, whose other members included Marc Silber, also the founder of the iconic “Fretted Instruments” store here; Darius Davenport, whose father LaNoue was a leader of the early music group New York Pro Musica; and Tom Danaher, another innovator in guitar design. A move to California came next, leading to being a cofounder of Alembic Basses, among the very first solidbodies anywhere to incorporate active electronics. In the early 1990s Turner had a guitar repair shop in Los Angeles, developing the Highlander piezo pickups for acoustic guitars. Regulars there were David Crosby, Jackson Browne, more, that whole California music scene of the day. He built guitars for players like Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac!), Ry Cooder (!), and David Lindley (!!!).